John Lennon wrote the chorus of Come Together for his friend, Timothy Leary, who was planning to run against Ronald Reagan for Governor of California. Legal problems and a jail sentence hindered the campaign, but the strategy of ‘coming together in unity’ has been around a long time.
The heart of Jesus for his followers has always included one great desire: “Come together right now over Me.” In the first week of this new year over 22,000 college-age young people gathered in Atlanta to hear God’s Word, to worship the Lord, and to encourage one another to let the Light of Christ shine on their college campuses throughout the world. Our two oldest children, Taylor and Kinsey, and their future mates, Emma and Jordan, attended this event last year and were built up in their faith. The leaders of the Passion Conferences always challenge the young people to ‘do something now’ to meet urgent needs. During this past gathering, thousands of blankets and socks were donated for the homeless of Atlanta and well over a million dollars was given to target specific world challenges. Here are a few: dig wells in India to provide clean water for villages, rescue women and children caught in sex slavery in the Philippines, serve a family from Haiti, help provide loans to start businesses in war-torn Afghanistan, feed starving children in poor countries, and perform life-saving surgeries on babies in South Africa. Amazed that lofty goals in every single area were surpassed, I could not help but think, “Wow, these must have been some wealthy college students,” but the person who shared the report gave an astounding statistic: the average gift per person was $52.
Jesus’ call to come together goes far deeper than meeting financial needs. If the builders of the Tower of Babel had power in unity to accomplish ignoble purposes, how much more power will there be for the children of God to accomplish Kingdom purposes? We see the effects of the ‘law of gravity’ (drop an apple and it falls), but I wonder if there is an unprovable ‘law of unity’ (come together in mind and purpose as God’s children and all things are possible).
“‘Come let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves…’ The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.’” (see Genesis 11:3-9) God understands the power of unity… and so does the devil. Have you noticed the lengths to which he goes to divide families, communities, and the Body of Christ? Our enemy fears unity greatly, Jesus desires it greatly… so perhaps we should pursue it greatly.
“‘…Now Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’ After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of the Lord boldly. All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one proclaimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.” Acts 4:29-32